Brothers
by Rivan Warrioress
Summary: When Eric and Nell are adding DNA profiles to a NCIS database they uncover a shocking secret.  Could it be that two of the team are actually related?  Two parter.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything to do with NICS: LA, Shane Brennan and CBS do. I'm just having a play.**

Hetty was sitting at her desk, sipping on a cup of tea, enjoying and savouring the soothing and refreshing blend she had chosen. Things had been quiet at the L.A. ops centre of NCIS lately and Hetty was certain that it was the calm before the storm. Something big was about to hit her team, and she knew that there was nothing she, nor they, could do but wait for the storm to break.

Hetty looked over towards the team in question. Sam was caching up on long overdue paperwork, while Kensi was perched on the edge of her partner's desk, stealing a doughnut from the box that Deeks had gone and bought at some point during that morning. Callen was not in the bullpen, having gone to the shooting rage, since he was up to date on his paperwork.

Hetty was drawn from her thoughtful observing of the team by the sound of flip flops coming down the stairs. She drained the cup of tea, setting the cup back onto the saucer, and placing it on her desk as Eric approached, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

Hetty frowned, "What can I do for you, Mr Beale?"

"Er, I need you to come and look at something for me please, Hetty. I mean, I've seen it, and Nell's seen it, but we wanted you too see it too before we do anything else about it, because it's kind of big… as in huge."

Hetty was already on her feet. It was most unusual for Eric to be this unnerved by a case, and if his unprofessionalism was justifiable by the facts of the case it must be a very serious matter indeed.

"Lead on Mr. Beale" Hetty said, gesturing towards the stairs. Eric ran up the stairs, while Hetty followed him as quickly as she could. Nell was waiting for them when Hetty walked through the doors. Eric waited for the doors to slide closed before he began to speak.

"Well, you know how Director Vance decided that we should have a database of DNA from all NCIS employees and that the samples were collected a few weeks ago? Eric began, Hetty nodded, remembering how she herself had swabbed the mouths of her team. Everyone had submitted DNA, from the cleaning staff, to the other support staff, to Sam, Callen and Kensi, to Eric and Nell, to Deeks up to Hetty herself.

"Go on, Mr. Beale."

"Well Nell and I were checking the samples in the database for any abnormalities, like you asked us too, and we found a big one."

'One what, Mr. Beale?"

"Abnormality."

"Explain, please Mr. Beale," Hetty asked, getting a little frustrated with Eric's failure to get to the point.

"Well, um, Callen and Deeks aren't related, as far as we are aware of, are they?"

"No, why do you ask," Hetty queried, a sinking feeling in her get telling her where this conversation was going.

"It appears, from their DNA tests, that they are brothers, or well, half brothers." Nell said softly to support Eric, who looked like he couldn't bring himself to say it. Eric nodded as Nell brought up the two samples on the big screen. Hetty pursed her lip as she studied the screen, taking in the data being displayed. It looked almost definite that the two individuals whose test they were shared a parent, and every care had been taken to ensure that the tests were not mixed up. She didn't want to admit it, because of the possible repercussions for her team, but Eric and Nell were right.

"Mr. Beale, go and fetch Mr. Deeks, Miss Jones, you go and bring Mr. Callen from the shooting range." Hetty requested. The pair hurried out, leaving Hetty alone in ops. She knew that she'd done that well. Eric and Deeks got along well, sharing their love of surfing. This friendship made Deeks seem less overwhelming for Eric to deal with in a situation such as this, meaning that Eric would not be inclined to become nervous and blab everything to him before Hetty had time to calm the two men and adequately prepare them for the bombshell that was about to be dropped on them. Hetty also knew that Callen carried a soft spot for Nell, all of the agents did, viewing her as a little sister, so he wasn't likely to push her for details. Even G would have no luck if he did try; Nell was a lot more resilient than she looked. Hetty herself had been training her after all.

Hetty sighed and looked up at the screen. It seemed that Callen's father was no longer anonymous, and indeed had an identity that Hetty was familiar with. It was impossible that Callen and Deeks were related on their mother's side, as Clara Callen had been long dead and buried at the time of Deeks' birth. Hetty remembered with sorrow the file that she'd had Nell put together about Deeks' father when the young detective had been shot. She recalled that Gordon John Brandell had been about the same age as Clara Callen, although Deeks' mother, Caroline Deeks had been some years younger, and that he had been overseas in locations unknown at the time that Clara had been out of contact with Hetty, during which Callen and his sister had been born. Hetty frowned when she remembered reading Brandell's criminal record, especially regarding the long history of abuse Deeks and his mother had been subjected to, ending with the fateful day when Deeks, aged eleven, had shot his father in self defence. Nell had included a copy of the police report in the file, and Hetty vividly remembered reading about how the neighbours had called LAPD to report the gunshot that night, stating that their had been a raised male voice at the address for a while prior to the shooting. The police had arrived at the house to find Brandell bleeding on the ground, still clasping onto a shotgun, screaming obscenities and smelling strongly of alcohol, while Caroline Deeks lay unconscious in the kitchen, having been severely beaten. Young Marty was found in the front yard of a house a block away, unconscious, and badly injured. He'd been found by police who had followed the blood trail the young boy had left as he'd dragged himself, crawling, away from the house, terrified that he'd just committed murder, and that he was about to be sent to prison.

Brandell had later confessed to beating both his wife and son "because she was a whore and young Marty was a brat" and Marty had been cleared of any wrongdoing. Caroline had divorced Brandell, and both mother and son had taken her own maiden name, free to move on with their lives without Brandell's interference.

Perhaps Callen had been fortunate to have had the upbringing he did, Hetty reasoned thoughtfully. It wasn't like what remained of Deeks' childhood had improved greatly following his father's imprisonment. Caroline Deeks had fallen ill and died when her son was aged thirteen years old, leaving Deeks to spend the following two years going between living on the streets, living with one of his friends through school, and living in foster homes, until he was fifteen, at which point he went and lived with the LAPD officer who had investigated Brandell. Hetty had never told Deeks that she was aware of what had happened following his father's arrest, but she suspected that he figured that she knew.

Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching the Ops centre Hetty quickly used Eric's touch pad to minimise the DNA results, not wanting whomever it was that was coming back to figure out was going on, especially not Callen and Deeks. Both the agent and the detective would need adequate preparing before Hetty told them about how they were related. Ultimately it was Eric who walked through the door, followed by a confused looking Deeks.

"Hey Hetty, what's going on?" he asked, "Eric said that you wanted to see me."

"We'll just wait for Ms. Jones to bring Mr. Callen back, and then we'll get started," Hetty told Deeks, Deeks nodded, leaning against a bench comfortably. Hetty found herself subtly watching him, searching for any obvious physical similarities between Deeks and Callen. It was difficult to tell, given Deeks' shaggy hair and scraggly beard, and Hetty couldn't determine anything obvious, save for the fact that they both had blue eyes and blonde hair. Hetty was relieved, as if it were obvious that the two shared some features she would have been most disappointed in herself, and would mostly likely would make her want to kick herself in the proverbial posterior for not noticing before hand.

Out of the corner of her eyes Hetty could see that Eric was doing the same, studying Deeks for any resemblance to Callen, although the tech expert wasn't being very subtle about it. Hetty sighed, relieved that she had sent Eric to fetch Deeks and not Callen. The agent would have definitely known that Eric was staring, while she was less certain that Deeks would notice, or even care about Eric's blatant staring.

A few minutes later Nell and Callen walked into the ops centre. Nell sidled inconspicuously to her usual work station beside Eric, while Callen stood beside Deeks. Hetty sighed, knowing that it was her duty to inform two of her team that they were actually half brothers. It wasn't something she did every day. It would be hard for both of them, but Hetty hoped, with a bit of luck and the support of the rest of the team, the two in question would cope.

"As you both are aware, NCIS policy now states that all personnel must submit to a DNA test for storage on a database. Mr. Beale and Miss. Jones were just now updating the database to include the DNA profiles of your team, and a …issue came up with your samples. They were rather similar, too similar to be co-incidental." Hetty said slowly. Callen frowned, confused.

"What do you mean, Hetty." He asked, obviously voicing Deeks' thoughts as well.

"You two, according to your DNA profiles, share a parent, your biological father in this case. You are half brothers."

Silence filled the room after Hetty's announcement. Hetty watched the bombshell drop on the pair as the knowledge sunk in. Deeks, surprisingly, appeared to comprehend the revelation first, his face loosing all colour as he gripped the edge of the bench he had been leaning on tightly, his gaze dropped to avoid all forms of eye contact.

Callen looked from Hetty, to Deeks, to Eric (who was intently studying a blank computer screen), to Nell (who was watching him with a strange look in her eyes), and then back at Hetty. He had a father, a father that had gone on to sire Deeks and possibly other siblings as well. Deeks had never mentioned having siblings, but that didn't mean anything.

Hetty nodded at Nell, who brought up Callen and Deeks' own DNA profiles, before bringing up the comparison onto the big screen in Ops. Callen looked up at it, and Deeks glanced up as well, looking at the screen wearily. Hetty found it quite remarkable how much the information currently being displayed on that screen had changed the lives of the two men concerned.

Callen and Deeks both studied the screen intently, their eyes illuminated by the light of the screen in the darkened room. On the comparison form, their eyes seem to lock onto one line, which stated that there was an over ninety nine point five per cent chance that they shared a parent. Hetty wasn't sure whether it was that piece of information that made it real for Deeks, or if it was some other thought or piece of information, but whatever it was, she had not been expecting it when Deeks turned on his heel and strode quickly out of Ops.

"Mr. Deeks?" Hetty asked loudly.

"Deeks!" Callen called. Deeks ignored them both, heading for the stairs. Callen moved to follow him, but Hetty took his arm, shaking her head.

"Let him be, Mr. Callen. He's had a shock, he just needs a bit of space." She counselled.

G looked up at the screen once again, "Did you know?" he managed to say. Hetty looked up, following his line of the sight the screen.

"No, Mr. Callen, I was not aware. I only found out a few minutes before you yourself did. Had I found out earlier I would have certainly informed you."

"Can you tell me about him…about my father?' Callen asked. Deeks never talked about his family. Kensi once mentioned that Deeks had told her about how, one holiday a few years ago, Deeks' father had pointed a shotgun at him, but other than that he knew nothing about Deeks' childhood and family.

"Your father passed away in a auto accident in 1998, not long after his release from prison." Hetty said, not wanting to say more without talking to Deeks first.

A noise from outside ops drew their attention, and Hetty gestured fro Nell to wipe the big screen clear. A few moments after the screen went back to its normal configuration Sam walked into the room, focused on Hetty and his partner.

"What's going on? Deeks just left, he looked like shit. Did something happen at LAPD or something, or with one of his old ops?"

.

"Nothing like that, Mr. Hanna," Hetty reassured the former SEAL.

"Is Deeks alone?" Callen asked; concern evident in his blue eyes and in his voice. Hetty almost smiled at how Callen cared about Deeks already, after knowing about their shared blood for barely five minutes.

"No, Kensi followed him out. He started running the moment he cleared the building. What happened?"

Callen ignored his partner, rubbing his palm over his face, while Hetty sighed. She should have known that one of the pair would react negatively to the news, and considering what Deeks had experienced at the hands of his father, he was the one more likely to run. Still, things had not gone as she had expected.

"This hasn't gone well," she admitted.

"You think?" Callen snapped, worry about his younger brother making him short tempered. Hetty said nothing about his rudeness, knowing that Callen couldn't help it.

"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" Sam asked.

"Mr. Callen, it's your news. I imagine that at this moment that Deeks is telling Ms. Blye. Sam and Kensi work with you both, they should be informed."

Callen nodded, knowing that the revelation would severely affect the team's dynamic. Besides, Sam was the closest thing he had to a best friend. Chances were down the track Callen knew he would need to talk to someone about Deeks (probably to whine about how annoying younger brothers were) and Sam was going to wind up being that person. He forced himself to take a calming breath.

"Eric and Nell were adding our DNA samples to the NCIS database, and they noticed something. They compared my results to Deeks' and it looks like he's my younger half brother, on my father's side."

Sam had a look of pure shock upon his face. He had not been expecting that. In fact, of all the possible situations, that was one that had never entered into Sam's considerations.

"Whoa, G. Deeks is your little brother? I didn't expect that."

"Yep, neither did I," Callen admitted.

"How much younger is Deeks anyway? He's never said how old he was."

"Mr. Deeks was born on the eighth of January nineteen seventy nine, just over two months before Mr. Callen turned nine." Hetty supplied. Sam shook his head. Deeks was younger than he'd thought he was. Callen already knew Deeks' birthday, as it was in the Liaison position application forms that he'd glanced over.

Sam leaned against the bench, unknowingly imitating Deeks as he processed the bombshell.

"Shit," he muttered, knowing how much it was going to affect the team. It was highly likely that Hetty would be forced to either make Deeks an agent in his own right, and them move him to another team, or have to simply fire him from the liaison position and let Deeks go back to being a deep undercover detective, neither option would sit well with Callen and the rest of the team. Deeks had grown on them, slowly, and Sam had begun to view the detective as a sort of very annoying younger brother figure, Now, for G to have Deeks as a younger brother in real life, it was going to change everything.

"As much as I detest your use of vulgar language, Mr. Hanna, I have to agree with you statement," Hetty said.

"Why would he run though? Is having me as a brother that bad?" Callen queried.

Sam snorted, "I doubt it, but then, we don't know what's going on in Deeks' head at the moment."

"I doubt it is anything personally directed at you, Mr. Callen,' Hetty said, thinking of the file about Brandell once again.

They stood in silence for a few minutes, quietly being observed by Eric and Nell, who'd been in there corner of the room the whole time. The silence was broken, however, by the sound of Hetty's phone going off. She quickly answered it, glancing at the caller ID before she spoke into the device.

'Ms. Blye."

"It's Deeks, I've got Kensi's phone, since I left with out mine. Are we okay to have the rest of the day off?" Deeks asked, his voice sounding very off from its usual cheerfulness. Hetty paused before nodding, it was certainly justified.

"Yes."

'Good, have you got a spare copy of that file you pulled together about my Gordon Brandell?"

"Yes," Hetty replied, glad she'd had the foresight at the time to make a spare copy. It was stored in her office.

"Give it to Callen, he deserves the truth. He needs to know why he was better off not knowing that he was related to him…and me. He's lucky that he doesn't remember him, but then, maybe his mother was stronger than mine."

"I'm sure that's not the case Mr. Deeks," Hetty consoled, "But I will be sure to pass the file on."

"Thanks Hetty. I'm sorry I walked out like that. Tell Callen that too. It wasn't because of him."

"I'm sure he understands, it was quite a shock. Feel free to inform Ms. Blye of what has happened, Mr. Hanna has been told by Mr. Callen."

"Alright then. Bye Hetty, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodbye Mr. Deeks." Hetty said, hanging up the phone.

"Is he okay?' Callen asked the moment Hetty hung up. Hetty simply looked at her senior agent, seeing the worry on his face. Sam had seen the worry too, and was struggling to hide his smirk.

"He is fine; he has requested to have the rest of the day off. He and Ms. Blye will be back at work tomorrow. She is currently with him." Hetty told him. Callen visibly relaxed, trusting Kensi to have Deeks' back.

"Mr. Callen, would you follow me please." Hetty requested, leaving the Ops centre. Callen followed her up, leaving Sam behind with Nell and Eric. Sam looked at the younger pair, who both looked guilty, knowing that they'd been the ones that caused so much turmoil for the team…their team, since they were as much part of the team as the agents were. Sam crossed over the room to their side as Nell buried her face in her hands. He squeezed her shoulder gently, and patted Eric on the back softly, causing them both to up at him. Nell looked like a little girl at that moment, it was unnerving to think of how many things she had seen because of her work with them, and Eric wasn't that much older, about the same age as Kensi.

"You did well, you did your jobs." Sam told them, smiling proudly at them. Eric nodded, and Nell weakly smiled. Knowing that Hetty was the one that they needed reassurance from now, as well as Deeks and Callen themselves, Sam turned and left, heading down stairs towards his desk, where Callen would be able to see him from Hetty's desk, assuming that her desk was where she was leading Callen.

Sam smiled as he reached the bottom of the stairs and spotted G and Hetty in the older lady's office. He nodded, and g nodded in response, acknowledging Sam's location, and thanking him for being there without uttering a single word. He watched Sam sit at his desk, before retuning his attention to Hetty.

"This is everything I know about your father, Gordon John Brandell. Please do be careful with what you do with this information, Mr. Callen. Deeks is aware that you have it, but I ask that you try to not bring it up with him unless it is necessary. I would advice against sharing the information inside with Mr. Hanna, Ms. Blye, or anyone else without consulting with Mr. Deeks first, as much of it is very personal to him."

Callen nodded, accepting Hetty's terms. He had a suspicion what was in the folder, going from Deeks' reaction, and Hetty's words of caution. Given that he knew that his father had been in prison, G was already content in the knowledge that Gordon John Brandell was not a nice guy. He stayed silent as he carried the folder back to his Desk as sat down. Sam obviously read g's silence, because he said nothing as his partner opened the file and began to read.

Out of habit, G immediately looked at Brandell's criminal record. He felt his gut clench tightly as he saw the list of offences, from various cases of being drunk and disorderly to the cases of intentionally causing serious injury against Caroline Brandell and Martin Brandell

All mental imagery Callen had carried since childhood of his father being some kind of hero vanished in that moment as he read through the case notes and evidence of the case against Brandell. The man had subjected his son to beatings and horrific treatment, going so far as to point a loaded shotgun at the then eleven year old, while young Marty was lying on the ground, badly injured because of his father's beatings. Beatings that were carried out by the one man who was supposed to love and protect him.

Perhaps what was the hardest for G to read was the page long paper written by young Deeks during a session with a psychologist during his father's trial. G, usually composed, was having trouble controlling his emotions as he read the writing.

'_When I was little I wanted to have a little brother or sister to play with and look after, but when I got older I stopped because I figured out that if I got a little brother or sister then Dad would be mean to them and hurt them like he huts mom and me. Before Dad got taken away, from when I was about seven or eight, I used to pray to God that I wouldn't get a little brother or sister. Mom heard me one time and got angry, because she thought I was being selfish and wanted her all to myself, but then I told her it was because I didn't want someone else, especially a little baby, to have the same life as me. She hugged me and we cried until Dad came home, but then I stopped, because I'm not allowed to cry, because only girls and babies cry. _

_God must have been listening, because I never got a little brother or sister. Now that Dad has gone though, I wish I had a big sister to talk to, like Ray does. I don't want a big brother though, because he might hurt me like dad did and bully me because I'm so small like the big boys at school do._'

G stopped reading at that point, feeling quite ill. Was that why Deeks had run, because he was scared that Callen would turn around and beat him, just because they were related, and apparently that's what happened. G supposed that it was unavoidable, because according to the criminal write ups, occasionally Gordon Brandell shared the pleasure of beating his wife and son with his own brother, Michael Brandell. Mike Brandell was dead too now, having had a fatal heart attack during a prison sentence for an unrelated crime.

G put the file down on his desk, and rubbed his hand over his face. Deeks' childhood had obviously not been pleasant, with pain, torture, mistreatment and abuse all featuring strongly. Just like he always did during cases that involved children being maltreated, Callen wondered how anyone could ever hurt a child like that. It just wasn't right.

NCIS: LA 

Deeks hung up the phone and passed it back to Kensi, before sprawling on his back in the soft, warm sand. Kensi put her phone in her pocket, sitting beside her partner. Predictably, when he'd run from the mission, he'd headed straight for the beach. Kensi had caught up with him when he'd stopped to catch his breath, and had been shocked to see the sadness on his face. She'd taken his hand and led him o the sand, where they had sat together. She'd lent Deeks her phone so he could call Hetty, and now that the call was over they sat in silence, Kensi not knowing what to say, and Deeks was obviously lost in his thoughts.

'When they were putting our DNA samples up on the database Eric and Nell noticed a discrepancy, and looked into it. Callen is my older half brother, apparently."

Kensi's jaw actually dropped.

"Your brother?" she echoed faintly. Deeks nodded.

"On my dad's side, which is good, because he's older than me, and my mom was only twenty two when she had me. She would have been, what, fourteen, when she had him, and didn't he have an older sister as well?"

.

Kensi nodded, "Did you know that your dad had other kids."

Deeks snorted, "He wouldn't have talked about it. He wasn't the type to talk about things. Do you remember when I told you about how, six years ago my dad pointed a shotgun at me?"

'When we were out in the desert, yeah, I remember."

"It wasn't six years ago." Deeks said, keeping his voice low, trying to hide the emotion in it.

"What?' Kensi asked.

"It was twenty one years ago…I was eleven." Deeks said blankly. Kensi froze, quickly connecting the dots.

"The man you shot…Gordon John Brandell."

"Yeah, I shot my dad when I was eleven. It was non fatal, I got him in the shoulder, but it was judged as being self defence. Callen is still going to hate me though; you know how he gets about his family. I shot his father."

"Deeks, you were being threatened with a shotgun, you were eleven, Callen is probably going to be more worried about you almost being shot at when you were eleven than you shooting your dad to save yourself.

Deeks shrugged, "It's not like he would have shot me. Even if he had fired the gun he was that drunk that night I really doubt he would have hit me."

"Deeks…had he hurt you before…you know," Kensi asked cautiously. Deeks looked at her, the look in his eyes telling her the truth.

"Yeah, I was one of those kids that got there asses kicked most nights by there dad. My mom got hit around too. I used to try and protect her. Only thing that achieved was us both ending up unconscious."

"Deeks…I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. It's not like you could have done anything about it."

"Don't be like this, Deeks. Don't shut me out. Does Hetty know about this?"

Deeks nodded, "She's always known about it. By now Callen would know about it to. I told Hetty to give him a copy of the file she had Nell put together about Brandell. He'll know everything.

"Deeks, you realise that this is going to change everything. I means, for the first time in his memory Callen has a relative, alive. It's going to mean a lot to him."

Deeks nodded, unable to disagree with Kensi's statement.

"I wonder if he used to hit Callen and his mom," Deeks said softly, so softly that Kensi almost didn't hear him, "I wonder if loosing her was what made him crack. Maybe my mom and I were a substitute for Callen and his mom."

"Deeks," Kensi said softly as Deeks sat up, frowning and resting his arms on his knees, whit his chin resting on his arms, gazing out at the waves rolling onto the beach.

"I remember when you told me about Callen, about how he'd moved from home to home so much when he was a kid. You and Sam were so horrified by it, but I…I thought he'd been lucky. He doesn't know…or remember what it's like to have your own dad, the guy you're supposed to be able to trust, betray you like that, hurting you over and over again just to make himself feel good. Maybe he was right. Maybe I was just a crap son. I am, compared with Callen. You guys are always commenting on how annoying I am, maybe Brandell thought so too." Deeks choked off, and Kensi could see the tears in his eyes.

"Deeks, stop." Kensi said, before she wrapped her arms around him.

"Just stop," she said softly as Deeks rested his head on her shoulder. She could feel from the shaking of his shoulders, and the growing moisture in the shoulder of her shirt, that the detective was crying, but she didn't do anything to stop him. He needed this. She started to gently rock, just like she remembered her own father doing when she was upset or sick, running her fingers through Deeks' soft shaggy hair.

"At least you're taller than him," she said softly, and Deeks let out a quiet chuckle.

"I guess so," he agreed, lifting his face from Kensi's shoulder, revealing red puffy eyes. He looked at Kensi, his eyes softening slightly as he looked at her face.

'Thanks Kensi."He smiled softly.

NCIS: LA

Hetty sat alone in the ops centre, everyone else having gone home for the night, thinking intently and sipping a cup of tea. She had a theory about a timeline of events, as far as the Callen family, Brandell, and Deeks and his mother were concerned. From her own research it was known that Brandell had most likely been brought up in an abusive home himself, and then he had inherited some money and decided to go overseas in his late twenties. While he was in Europe he met Clara Callen, and an attachment had formed. The pair would go off the radar somewhere, and they would have two children. At some point over the following five years Brandell would become abusive, but Clara, with her CIA training, would be able to protect herself and her children from him. Brandell, after all, had little training in violence save for what he had experienced at the hand of his father. Something, however, changed, leading Clara to become fearful for the safety of herself and her children, and had gone to Hetty for aid. Then, as a result of being in a city that was a Comescu family stronghold while Hetty got passage organised, Clara had been executed, and Amy and G had vanished, only to appear in the US foster care system a few months later. Out of money, and perhaps searching for his offspring, Brandell had returned to America, and had eventually found himself another girlfriend in Caroline Deeks, who he later married and then fathered his third child. Caroline was a hairdresser by trade, and wouldn't have been able to fight him off like Clara had, so Brandell had been free to do what he liked with his wife and son, even inviting his older brother to participate on occasion, right up until the fateful night when young Marty had fired the gun that had alerted the police, and led to the arrest of Brandell.

It was a sordid saga, one with lots of twists and plot holes, but, Hetty considered sadly, it was the most likely chain of events. Stretching her arms, Hetty finished her cup of tea and tidied her desk, before switching out the light, and walking out of Ops, locking the door behind her.

It had been one of the strangest and most trying days of her long career, but she believed that, with the support of their team Callen and Deeks would overcome the revelation that they were half brothers, and the group as a whole would walk away from the experience even more tightly knit together than they had been previously.

NCIS: LA

G looked up at the ceiling above his bed, brow furrowed in confusion. Firstly, he didn't have a bed, and secondly, the ceiling was not his ceiling. He sat up quickly, looking around the space around him. He recognised it as the apartment he had lived in during some of nineteen ninety two, when he'd been twenty two. Obviously he was having some kind of weird dream involving memories of the past. G didn't know why he was dreaming about that particular apartment. When he did dream of his past it was usually much earlier, during his childhood, or more recent. Callen got out of bed, finding that he was already dressed in Jeans and a shirt.

He walked out of his bedroom looking around to see if anything stood out. The apartment was sparsely decorated, and nothing seemed out of place, although he did catch a look of himself in the mirror, and noticed that he was younger too, his twenty two year old face looking back at him. Then, someone knocked on the door. Callen frowned and looked around for a weapon. There wasn't one, so Deeks took a deep, calming breath, and went to answer the door. Standing at the door was a police officer, with his arm around the shoulder of a boy, unmistakably a young Marty Deeks. Callen did the math, and knew that Deeks was thirteen that year. He looked small for his age, his shoulder length, shaggy blond hair hanging limp. The kid's blue yes were full of tears and he looked up at Callen. Callen was taken by the puppy dog face Deeks was hitting him with. Now he knew what Kensi whined about so often.

"She's gone, G." Deeks said, before he sobbed, and threw himself at Callen. Callen wrapped his arms around the teenaged Deeks, rubbing his back soothingly.

"Your former stepmother passed away this morning, Mr. Callen. Her last wish was for Marty to stay with you until he turns eighteen."

"What?" Callen said, before realising that the LAPD office was talking about Deeks' mother. He glanced down at the boy…not the Deeks Callen remembered from NCIS, but the little brother that now was responsible for.

"I'll look after him. Nothing is going to happen to him," Callen said softly, promising to himself, more than anything. For his entire life Callen had wanted family. Now he had it in the form of a younger brother. While the Deeks he was responsible for in real life was a lot bigger and more independent than the young teenager that Callen was still holding in his arms, he was still family, he was still G's younger brother, and G knew that, outside of NCIS at least, he was going to have to step up into that role of big brother.

Of course, there was the minor issue of Callen not having any experience of what it meant to belong to a family, but Deeks knew and understood that, so hopefully the LAPD detective would be forgiving of any mistakes G made. G, however, knew that he wouldn't fail Deeks as a brother, not like their father had failed the younger man as a dad, and their uncle had failed as an uncle. Deeks had been let down far too many times by members of their family, and G was determined that he would not .let Deeks down, not for as long as he drew breath.

Callen snapped his eyes open, finding himself back on the floor of his house, his blanket cuddled up in his arms, rather like the younger Deeks from his dream had been.

The dream had been strange, but thought provoking. In the dream he'd had the chance to save his younger brother from the foster system that had robbed Callen of his sense of identity, and his ability to connect with others. Callen hoped that Deeks had a more pleasant experience of the system than him; otherwise G knew he would be consumed with guilt.

Groaning, G got up, looking through the window. The sun had risen, and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day, as far as the weather was concerned anyway. G wasn't really looking forward to the moment he and Deeks met face to face once again.

Callen's gut was telling him that particular experience was going to be very awkward.

NCIS: LA

Kensi was the first of the agents to arrive at the mission that morning, holding a cup of strong coffee in one hand and a bag of chocolates to put in her desk drawer in the other. Hetty observed the youngest of the agents, and noticed the shadowed look under Kensi's eyes. Obviously, despite having the afternoon off, Kensi had not found the time particularly restful. Hetty could not blame her. Sleep had been rather elusive for her as well the previous night; thoughts of the situation with Callen and Deeks had been chasing one another through her mind all night, and had proved to be as much as a pain in the asset as the two men in question.

"Morning Hetty," Kensi greeted.

"Ms. Blye, how was your evening."

Kensi groaned and dropped into her chair.

"I've never seen Deeks like that before. He wasn't himself." She admitted, "I hate to think what it's like for the both of them. Deeks told me about what sort of guy their dad is. Who would do that to their own kid?"

"I do not know, Ms. Blye," Hetty replied as Sam strode in. He looked around as he dropped his bag.

"No G or Deeks yet?' he asked.

"Nope," Kensi sighed.

Sam nodded, "I couldn't stop thinking about it last night."

"Me too," Kensi admitted, "It's going to change everything. Is one of them going to have to leave?"

"We'll see, Ms. Blye. It depends on how much it does change things. If Deeks and Mr. Callen are able to work together well then nothing needs to be done, but if they cannot maintain a professional relationship then I am afraid I will be forced to take action."

Kensi and Sam looked at each other, neither of them wanting to see Deeks leave (they both knew that there was no was Hetty would fire G, or let him quit). The detective had grown on them both, and had become a valued member of their team.

'How was he yesterday after you guys left?" Sam asked Kensi.

Kensi shuddered, "Shocked, I've never seen him so torn up about something before. How was Callen?"

"He was pretty shaken up, Hetty gave him a file and he looked pretty pale after reading it. I thought he was either going to pass out or throw up."

Kensi had a suspicion of what was in the file in question, from what Deeks had told her the previous afternoon, but she said nothing. Naturally Callen was going to react to learning that his father had pointed a loaded shotgun at his younger brother, after having beaten Deeks and his mother severely enough to land them both in hospital for a month.

"You know what was in there, don't you," Sam said, reading Kensi's silence. Kensi looked sadly at Sam.

"Deeks told me last night, I don't think he would have ever told any of us if he couldn't avoid it. You're better off not knowing.

Sam frowned. It went against everything he'd learned as a SEAL to leave a member of a team to cope with some obviously bad memories, but at the same time he recognised that Deeks had a completely different background to Sam. From what Sam had seen of Deeks' encounters with LAPD he was not particularly liked, and Deeks primarily worked alone, perhaps with one back up, but the back up changed from case to case. There was none of the team orientated work like at NCIS, or with the SEALs. There was no strong sense of family within the team. Perhaps that was why Deeks had struggled to fit in initially. Of course, it could also be connected to his being an outsider, from a certain point of view, being a detective for LAPD, and not a federal Agent like the rest of the team. Sometimes Sam just wished that Hetty would hurry up and just make Deeks an Agent. Callen and Sam both knew that Hetty had always planned on elevating Deeks to Agent status at some point.

"If Deeks wishes to inform you, Mr. Hanna, he will." Hetty counselled wisely. Sam sighed and picked up a pen, playing with it in his large hands, wishing that there was something he could do to help the younger man.

Hetty returned to her desk, and Eric and Nell came down the stairs.

"How are things going?' Nell asked.

"Okay," Sam nodded, knowing that she was alluding to the Callen and Deeks situation. Eric and Nell looked at one another.

"I hope they can overcome it," Nell said softly. Kensi nodded in agreement. The team were quiet as they thought their own thoughts, but all of their thoughts were revolving about Deeks and Callen.

Then Deeks walked into the mission, back pack thrown over his shoulder, his hair still damp from his morning surf and shower. He looked around, and seemed to relax a little. Kensi figured that he had been looking for Callen.

"Hey guys," Deeks greeted, walking past Nell and Eric and dropping into his seat beside Sam. Sam hesitated, before reaching over and squeezing Deeks on the shoulder reassuringly. Deeks looked across, and Sam smiled at him. Deeks gave a weak smile in reply, and Sam let his arm drop back down. Kensi, Eric and Nell all watched the moment, but all wisely said nothing about it. Sam and Deeks had had a slightly tenacious relationship from day one, but Deeks had grown on the former SEAL, and especially now, Sam was well and truly willing to be there for the younger detective.

Hetty had watched the exchange from her desk, and couldn't stop the small, proud smile that crossed her face as she saw how supportive the entire team was of Callen and Deeks. She had little doubt in her mind that everything was going to work out.

NCIS: LA

When Callen walked into the mission, having noticed that the rest of the team were already there, or at least, there cars were in their regular spots, Callen's gaze immediately went to the bullpen, his gaze scanning over Kensi and Sam, before resting on Deeks. At the same moment Deeks happened to look up, and their eyes met. Callen simply looked at Deeks…His younger brother, while Deeks looked at him. The tension in the air was so thick that Callen was sure that if Sam or Kensi tried, they could slice through it with a knife. Eventually Deeks dropped his gaze back to the papers on his desk, and Callen continued to walk over to his desk.

Sam and Kensi exchanged a significant at one another across the Bullpen. Obviously the unavoidable confrontation between the two brothers was going to be delayed. Wordlessly the four team members set about doing their work, determined to ignore the simmering tension that hung in the air over them like a rain cloud

NCIS: LA

It was mid afternoon when G got up, having had enough. It looked like it was going to be up to him to initiate the conversation. He and Deeks had known about their shared heritage for twenty four hours, and G knew it was high time for them to bite the figurative bullet.

"Deeks," Callen called, beckoning to the LAPD detective. He caught Deeks' eye, and saw the slight fear in the younger mans eye. Deeks shot a sideways look at Kensi, who nodded encouragingly at him, so Deeks got to his feet and followed Callen out. They headed to the boat house in silence. Callen was pleased with his choice of location. It was private, allowing them to talk without Hetty or the others interfering, but was close at hand and easily contactable if a case came up.

"So," Deeks said, sitting on the edge of the table, rubbing his hands over the edge of the table.

"Did you ever expect that you had siblings?" Callen asked. Deeks shook his head.

"I, er, I wasn't all that close to him when I was younger. I tried to avoid him as much as possible, actually. He never mentioned having other kids, not in front of me anyway. Not that I can remember." Deeks answered. Callen nodded.

"I'm guessing he wasn't the type of dad you had in mind. I never saw you as the sort to have been fathered by a guy like Brandell."

G smiled and shook his head, "No, I had a military guy of some type in mind."

Deeks cringed, "Way off the mark there. Closest thing Brandell ever got to military was the time he got into a bar fight with a marine. He started it of course." G smiled, but then the two men fell into a thoughtful silence.

"I'm sorry about your mom," Callen said eventually. Deeks nodded sadly.

"She was a changed person after he got arrested. I'd never seen her so happy, even after she got sick " As Deeks spoke sad look crossed his face, and Callen drew a little closer to his younger brother.

"What was she like?"

"Quiet, she liked to keep to herself. She was the best cook though; she made the best chocolate chip cookies ever. She was really caring too. When I was younger we lived next to an elderly widower whose wife had just died, and when she could she made him casseroles and stews. He moved out when I was nine to move closer to his daughter, but he was like a granddad to me."

"The file states that you moved into a LAPD detective's house when you were fifteen?" Callen asked. Deeks nodded, a smile crossing his face.

"Yeah, Mike. He was a really young cop then, he'd just become a detective when the shooting with my…our dad happened. He kept in touch with me following, and he offered to take me in when they were struggling to find a foster home for me when I was fifteen. He was the one that encouraged me to push myself academically, and he was so proud of me the day I passed the bar exam. I kind of think the day I told him I wanted to be a detective was the day I made him the proudest though. I suppose he was my second dad back then. He died not long after I made detective. After my mom and Ray, he was my best friend even back then; Mike was the man who helped me become the guy I am today."

"Do you miss Ray?" G asked, remembering the informant that he'd met, the one Deeks had tired to protect from everything.

"Yeah, even though he's a criminal, and we don't see one another any more, He's still the best friend I've got outside of NCIS."

Callen smiled, glad that Deeks had found a home for himself, and had been able to escape the foster care system three years early. He also smiled at Deeks' comment about how Ray had been his best friend outside of NCIS, indicating to Callen that Deeks viewed the team as his closest friends. It was nice to know that Deeks thought so highly of the team, but at the same time it saddened Callen, considering that Deeks surely would have had friends that he had known for longer than the year and a bit that Deeks had worked with the team.

"Have you got any relatives left?' Callen asked. Deeks sighed and shook his head.

"No, except for you I guess. The last of my grandparents died when I was about six or seven, and my mom was an only child. Brandell had his brother, but that was it, and they're both gone now."

"I'm sorry," Callen said honestly. Deeks nodded.

"Thanks, I'm sorry too, about what you went through. Do you remember much about your family?"

"I don't remember our father…Brandell, at all. I remember my mother the day she was killed, and I remember playing with my sister, but that's it."

Deeks shook his head sadly. Callen hadn't realised it before, but their backgrounds were very similar, but at the same time hugely different. Deeks' childhood was nothing like what Callen wanted a younger sibling of his to experience.

"At least neither of us carries his name. We both have our mother's surname."

Callen nodded in agreement. Brandell didn't seem to be the type of guy who deserved having two sons that could carry the name on (although Callen doubted that he would be able to pass the name on…He wasn't exactly young anymore, and he had no intention of settling down). Deeks, on the other hand, was a romantic at heart. Sometime in the future Callen was sure that there would be a mini Deeks (or two) running around. Actually, Callen would not be surprised if it was a mini Deeks and Kensi running around, given the way the youngest members of the team were looking at one another recently.

"What?' Deeks asked, obviously having seen the slight smirk that crossed Callen's face at the idea of Deeks-Blye offspring.

"Nothing," Callen said, schooling his features with an ease that came after years of experience in undercover ops, although he was still thinking how…amusing it would be to watch Deeks and Kensi deal with being parents. The kid would have Deeks wrapped around his or her finger within seconds, and Kensi would spend hours just sitting and watching her child play with its dad. Deeks was, Callen recalled, very good with kids.

"Sure," Deeks said, obviously not convinced by Callen's facade. Callen smiled at his brother's skills of observation and deduction. It brought up an interesting question. Ever since he'd heard Hetty tell him about his mother and his grandfather, and their connection with the CIA Callen had figured that his skills were not just learned, but inherited as well, to a certain extent. Deeks had similar skills of being undercover to Callen, although at the same time they were different. Deeks had a style that was not at all like Callen's own style, but both were very effective. Was it possible that Brandell had his own family history of undercover ops? According to the man's file he had never worked in law enforcement at any time, working instead in various factories and other low income jobs, having never finished high school, and never really holding down a job for longer than a year throughout his entire life (unless being in prison counted as a job). It was possible, however, that someone in Brandell's family tree had been involved in law enforcement, and their talent had been passed down the family tree without surfacing until Brandell fathered Callen and Deeks.

"I never thought I'd be in this boat," Deeks admitted suddenly, drawing Callen from his musing, "I mean, I should have expected it, to be honest. It was always possible that they'd had a fling with someone one night but he was at the bar, but I never thought he would have been married before my mom. I knew that he was a fair bit older than her…she was barely out of high school when they met, and was in her early twenties when I was born, while he was already almost forty at the time, but still."

"Even though he treated you both badly you thought you were his first family?' Callen asked.

Deeks nodded reluctantly, "he really didn't come across as a 'family man' kind of guy."

Callen couldn't help but feel that Deeks' comment was the understatement of the century, but he said nothing about it.

"How is this going to change things?" Deeks asked, 'I like working with you guys, but isn't there some NCIS rule in place that would mean that we can't work together."

"Maybe," Callen shrugged, "But if anyone tried to break up this team they're going to have to go though Hetty."

They both laughed at the idea, knowing that Hetty wouldn't want the team to be broken up, regardless of NCIS rules. She was definitely the kind of person that both Callen and Deeks were glad that they had on the side of their team.

"No one is going to stand a chance," Deeks smiled happily, content in the knowledge that his position at NCIS was secure. Callen couldn't stop himself from smiling at the obvious glee in Deeks' voice, glad that his brother enjoyed working with him and Sam and Kensi. They sat quietly for a little bit longer, until Deeks broke the silence.

"So, and you can be brutally honest if you want, G, Are you happy about this, or is it majorly not good that I am your brother. I know that you and Sam and Kensi find me really annoying and..."

"Deeks," Callen interrupted, "finding out that you're my brother…it's one of the best days of my life. For the first time that I remember I have family, and I'm glad it's you. You're a great guy, and I'm proud of you. I know that, if he'd been a great guy as well, our dad would have been proud of you too, your mom would be, and I think that my mom and our sister would be proud to have you in the family too."

"Thanks," G," Deeks said, trying to hid the emotion on his face. In a moment of softness that Callen knew was completely out character for him, he pulled Deeks into a hug.

"I'm glad you're my big brother too," Deeks murmured onto Callen's shoulder, "I'm proud of you too."

Callen couldn't fight the tear tat slid down his cheek or the wide grin that broke out on his face.

'So this is what family feels like' he found himself thinking.


	2. Chapter 2

Callen and Deeks walked side by side out of the mission, their gym bags slung over their shoulders. The sky was dark, as they walked towards their parked cars, once Callen had locked up. The rest of the Ops team had long gone home. Even Hetty had called it a night a couple of hours before. G and Deeks had, however, decided to stay behind and have a sparring session in the gym.

It wasn't the first time they'd stayed behind together. Ever since they had discovered that they were half brothers Callen had figured that, since he was Deeks' older brother, it was his duty to try and train Deeks a little. Deeks was already a skilled fighter, but Callen had long ago lost count of the number times Deeks would have a black eye or a grazed cheek because he left himself open during a fist fight. It seemed to be paying off, with Sam and Kensi both commenting to Callen that Deeks had improved. Hetty had noticed the difference too.

The sparring sessions, which usually happened about once every two weeks, were a key part of the bonding process that Callen and Deeks had subconsciously entered into, getting to know each other outside of work, as brothers, and not just team mates. Callen now spent more time socializing with the detective than he ever had before.

Sam too was making an effort, as he saw g as part of his family and with Deeks now being Callen's half brother, it made him part of Sam's family as well. Neither Callen nor Deeks had told Sam much about Brandell, which told Sam enough. The guy obviously wasn't good news, and Sam already knew enough from what Deeks had told him before the revelation to know that the detective hadn't had the best of childhoods.

It, however, amused Sam that his partner had told him that Brandell was in fact dead. G knew that Sam would have gone after Brandell if the man was still alive and out of prison. The knowledge that Sam possessed indicated to the former SEAL that it was highly probable that Brandell had abused Deeks when the Detective was still a kid, and possibly Callen as well before Callen had arrived in America, was enough to make Sam angry. Child abuse cases had always angered Sam, but since his own daughters had been born it had made it worse. Especially given that in involved at lease one member of his team, and possibly his partner as well (whom Sam considered to be family, it was intolerable.

In contrast to the changing relationship between Callen and Deeks, and Sam and Deeks by extension, the partnership between Deeks and Kensi had remained unchanging. They still teased one another and flirted with one another and tried to deny the unresolved sexual tension that rolled between them. She was more sensitive about brining up Deeks' past, especially his childhood, but other than that nothing had changed the way that they interacted.

As far as Callen and Deeks were concerned, however, everything was re-adjusting from the way things had been, to the way things would be form now on, rather smoothly. Both men were getting used to the idea of their shared parentage, their shared blood. It would be a slow progress, considering that they had, for most of their lives, been alone, but they had faith that they, and the rest of the team would overcome the situation, and that things would turn out well.

If it didn't, well, Hetty was going to knock some heads together until it did.

NCIS: LA

G, Sam and Kensi were summoned up to ops by the sound of Eric's whistle. They exchanged curious glances and hurried up, none of them missing the look on Eric's face, each of them unknowingly having the same thought.

'_Please don't let it involve Deeks… Please don't let it involve Deeks.'_

Deeks was away, working on a deep undercover op with L.A.P.D. It was the first time he'd been away since 'the revelation' (as everyone had jokingly to call it). Callen and Deeks had decided that it was best if L.A.P.D. didn't know about how they were brothers. At the same time no one above Hetty in the organisational structure of Hetty, including Vance, was to be informed, considering the possibility that Deeks could loose his liaison position in NCIS.

The trio walked into the ops centre to find Nell and Eric apprehensively watching Hetty pace the room, a scowl on her face. Callen cleared his throat, and she looked up at them, stopping her pacing

"I have just received a phone call from the head of the internal affairs branch of LAPD," she told them, "it appears that Deeks was working undercover for them."

Kensi's legs bucked a little, and she leaned heavily against a bench beside Sam. Callen put his hands on the back of Nell's chair, which the Intel analyst had dropped heavily into.

"Deeks has missed his last two check ins. His home is deserted, and he was last seen almost three days ago, when he took his car from his home and drove off to a meet."

"Damn it," Sam growled, voicing the thoughts of everyone else in the room (more or less). Callen was tightly gripping Nell's chair, fighting to keep his mask in place and shield his emotions. Only Hetty and Sam, who knew him the best, could see how much the news had unsettled him.

Nell and Eric were already taking action, their hands moving across their computer keyboards so quickly that none of the others could actually see what it was that they were actually typing. The room was silent except for the sound of pressing keys. That was, until Nell spoke.

"Uh oh,"

"Uh oh what, Miss Jones?' Hetty asked.

"His phones turned off. It hasn't been on since before the last time he was sighted. The last transmission from it was when it was at Deeks' house, three days ago." She looked guiltily up that the rest of the team.

"I'm trying to get a location on his car," Eric reported, watching as his computer scanned through numerous camera angles as the computer scanned through, looking for a car that matched the licence plate and description of Deeks'.

"What case was he working on, Hetty?' Sam asked.

Hetty sighed, "Deeks has infiltrated a street gang. LAPD internal Affairs had some reports of a group of officers were being paid off in order to get the crimes committed by the gang dropped, or completely ignored. Deeks had successfully gotten into the gang, and he had gathered some evidence against the dirty cops in question, however if he and internal affairs wanted to be able to prosecute they would need more evidence. Three nights ago Deeks reported that he was about to go to meet up with members of the gang, but nothing has been heard from him since."

"Something happened at the meet," Sam reasoned.

"It would appear so," Hetty agreed.

"Guys, I've got a fix on Deeks' car. It's parked in a car park along the beach."

"How long's it been there?' Callen asked, slipping into special agent mode. His own personal feelings could be dealt with later. Eric typed something in, and began to rewind the footage of camera that Deeks' car was shown in, before he stopped it, and hit a few keys, making it play again. Deeks' car pulled into the slot, and Deeks himself got out, wearing a pair of torn dark jeans, and a black jacket, and carrying a black balaclava in his hands. He shut the car door and locked the car up, shooting a glance at the camera, before he walked away from the car. Eric paused the footage before Deeks walked out of the shot.

That was taken the evening that Deeks was to meet up with the gang," he told them, reading the timestamp on the video. Nell brought up various other cameras' feed from that area of town on that night, and they watched Deeks' progress, until he walked into a shady area of the city, where the street cameras were all broken, smashed, or not functioning at the time. Callen huffed in frustration.

"Damn it Deeks, where are you?" he said. Only Nell heard him though, and she looked up at him sympathetically.

"We'll get him back," she said reassuringly to him.

NCIS: LA

Callen checked his Kevlar vest, before checking his gun. Beside him both Sam and Kesni were doing the same thing. Satisfied that everything was in working order, and that his Kevlar was sitting right, G assumed a ready pose, waiting for the others to finish checking their own equipment.

Locating Deeks had not been overly difficult, but it had been time consuming. Callen had had to talk at length to a couple of members of the same gang that Deeks had gained membership of, and after some pressure from the two agents, the gang members confessed that they hadn't know that Deeks was L.A.P.D, and that he'd been generally well liked by the members of the gang, but the five dirty members of L.A.P.D. had shown a keen interest in the detective, taking him from the meeting for some drinks. No-one had seen Deeks since. It had been assumed that he'd been arrested for something, and that soon the cops would call, demanding a sum of money in order to secure the release of one of the gang's newest members.

That news in hand, Nell went to work looking up the five dirty cops in question. Four of them had all worked in partnership with the fifth, who appeared to be the one behind it all. His name was Simon Grange, and he was a lieutenant. He came from a wealthy family, and upon the death of his father and inheriting his families money, Simon had invested the money in a company that produced computer components en masse in a factory not far out of L.A. The factory had burned down six months prior, and the company had gone bust, leaving Simon with nothing. That knowledge in hand, they'd gone looking for Simon and the other accused dirty cops. Only two had been found, and Simon Grange was among the missing, so the team found themselves at the factory. Callen could feel in his gut that this was where Deeks was being held.

Their weapons and body armour in place, Callen lead his team up to the building. Eric was watching alternative exits any fleeing individuals might take up in the ops centre, so Callen was confident that no one would escape without being spotted.

The trio entered the building, guns raised. There were three levels of the factory, although the damage from the fire was extensive. It was in danger of collapsing. Callen hoped that it would be able to stay up until after they'd gotten Deeks out. The structural damage was rather significant after all.

Thankfully, though, the team had Eric and Nell, who had a satellite thermal image feed of the building, and the four other occupants, not including the team. Cautiously they spread out, looking for any sign of Deeks, heading for the other people in the building.

Sam took the ground floor, and quickly found one of the dirty cops, alone. Sam shot the man in the leg, and disarmed him in a short struggle. On the first level, Kensi too was quickly successful in locating another if the dirty cops. The detective fired at her, but she dodged and returned fire with lethal accuracy.

Callen stalked through the uppermost level of the factory, which was littered with old machine parts and storage crates, creating a maze. He followed Nell's instructions, relayed to him through is ear piece, and moved towards the last two remaining unidentified people.

Callen stepped into a room at the end of the floor, with his gun raised. He felt his gut clench when he took in the occupants of the room. Simon Grange, a psychotic smirk spread on his face, holding Deeks up by the scruff of his jacket. The rouge cop was grasping a gun in his spare hand, holding it at Deeks' head. Deeks was only half conscious, blood trickling down from his mouth, his jacket was gone, and his shirt was ripped and bloody. He'd obviously taken a serious beating and his legs weren't supporting Deeks' weight either, leaving Grange the only thing holding the detective upright.

"Another step and he's dead." Grange sneered, jabbing the gun into Deeks' face. Deeks shifted away, blearily opening his bruised eyes, the blue orbs looking defeated.

"G," he croaked hoarsely, another trail of blood coming from his mouth from the effort it needed to say the single letter. It was a significant moment for their relationship, Callen realised. Deeks was looking up to him to save his life, to stop the men from getting away with betraying the LAPD, an organisation that Deeks was proud to serve.

"It'll be okay, Marty," Callen replied, using his brother's given name for the first time, reassuring his little brother, while at the same time maintaining a professional image for Grange.

"Like hell he is. He's a dead man, just like you are,' Grange sneered, looking down at Deeks and giving him a shake. G. took advantage of the distraction, and fired his gun one. One shot was all he needed to hit Simon Grange in the head, splattering the wall behind the psychopath with blood. He immediately dropped to the ground limply, and Deeks collapsed to the floor with a groan. Callen leapt forward, ignoring the creaking of the floorboards as they protested against his weight, and the body of Simon Grange, kneeling beside Deeks. He put his hand on his brother's shoulder, and Deeks feebly stirred, looking weakly up at Callen.

"Nice shot," he whispered. G smiled.

"I'd show you how to do it, but you're already pretty good yourself." He told Deeks as he took in his bother's injuries. They looked serious. The detective needed urgent medical attention. Callen had no idea where the rest of the team was. He'd heard gunshots, but other than that nothing.

'The floor," Deeks croaked out urgently. Callen spun around, seeing the cracks forming in the woodwork beneath them, and the cracking if the supports around them gave way.

"Sam, Kensi, get out, the buildings collapsing," Callen yelled, throwing himself protectively over Deeks as the floor beneath them gave way. Callen, Deeks, a large amount of debris and the body of Grange plummeted through the air, hitting, and going straight through the floor of the first level, before they landed on the concrete floor of the ground level in an explosion of dust and rubble. The walls and roof of the building, however, had staid up, reducing the amount of debris.

Thankfully Sam and Kensi had been clear of where Deeks and Callen had fallen, having been trying to clear the stairway of rubble from a building collapse which had occurred after Callen had gone up to the third level. Hearing the crash they both turned, and ran towards the mound of debris, rubble, and dust, waving their hands in front of their faces to try and clear the dust.

"G," Sam called urgently as the approached the heap

"Deeks," Kensi added as she began to circle the pile, looking for any sign of her partner.

.

"Eric, we need two ambulances here, G and Deeks are down." Sam reported to the ops centre.

"Got it Sam, they're about five minutes away," Eric replied. Sam tried to relax, knowing that medical assistance was not far way and that G and Deeks would get the help they would probably need soon. He mentally thanked Eric for having the foresight to have paramedics on standby nearby at the beginning of the op.

"What's their condition, Mr. Hanna.?" Hetty asked.

"Don't know yet, the floor beneath them collapsed and they fell two storied. We're still trying to find them," he coughed as he inhaled dust, continuing to search for the rest of his team in the rubble. They soon found Grange's body, covered in dirt, and dust. Not long after they found G, draped protectively, half on top of Deeks, both of them pale faced, bloodied, and very dusty. Sam crouched down beside his partner, not wanting to move him for fear of a back injury.

Sam found himself praying, since Callen was lying so still, but he was relived to feel the steady beat beneath his fingers. Callen's pulse was fine, and he looked relatively alright, except for the bloody gash on his head that was bleeding.

Kensi was on the other side, checking Deeks over as the best she could, with G half on top of him. Deeks was unconscious, like his older sibling, and also was bleeding from a gash on his head, his hair streaked with dust and blood. His skin was pale, even though it was still covered in dirt and dust. Gingerly Kensi touched her partner's throat, and let out a sigh of relief when she felt his pulse beneath her fingertips. It wasn't as strong as it was normally, but it was there, and that was all that mattered, for now.

The two conscious members of the team could hear the approaching wail of the ambulances, and both of them could feel their relief building up within them. Help was at hand.

NCIS: LA

Callen groaned as he felt himself regain consciousness. His body ached all over, and he could tell that he was in hospital without needing to open his eyes.

"G, you with me buddy?" he heard Sam say, and he turned his head towards the noise, opening his yes as he went. He was relieved to see Sam standing at his bedside, Nell a few paces behind and to the side. Both of them looked alright, tired, but uninjured.

"Sam?" G said, before coughing.

"Easy, G, take it easy. You just chill. God you scare me sometimes.

"Deeks?" Callen said, remembering why he was in hospital, the fall, himself covering Deeks, trying to protect his little bother's already battered body.

Sam and Nell looked at each other, and Sam frowned, "alright I owe you twenty bucks," the former SEAL admitted to the analyst, who smiled, before Sam turned his attention to Callen.

"Yeah, he's going to be okay, eventually. You probably saved his life by covering him like you did. Kensi and Hetty are with him.

"How bad is he hurt?' Callen asked.

"A few broken ribs, pretty nasty concussion, dehydration, exhaustion, bruised collarbone, couple of loose teeth, shallow gunshot wound to the arm, bruising, cuts, and grazes," listed Nell. Sam was smiling now.

"Nothing that you haven't already experienced. They think he'll pull through fine. He hasn't woken up yet, but they're not expecting him to."

"How long has it been?"

"Since you decided to drop in on us, only twenty hours. Hetty knows what you're like, and so do the doctors, so they sedated you while they check you over. How do you feel?"

"Sore," Callen admitted.

"Yeah, well, falling two stories does that to you. You're lucky you didn't break anything. You're okay except for being a bit battered and bruised. You think you're too old for jumping or falling out of moving cars, you're definitely too old to go falling through the floor." Sam said. G rolled his eyes.

"I better go and tell Hetty you're awake." Nell smiled, before she hurried of out of the room.

"She's been running messages between your room and Deeks' ever since you both got settled into your rooms." Sam explained to Callen, who nodded in understanding, wincing at the resulting pain. He raised his hand and felt the bandage on his forehead.

"At some point during your little death dive you hit something with your head," Sam explained, "naturally, like all head wounds, it bled heaps."

G chuckled, and leaned back a little. It seemed that Deeks was going to make a full recovery. At that precise moment, things were good.

Sam flicked through a magazine, sensing that Callen wanted some quiet, but the silence was short lived, when Hetty bustled into the room.

"Hi Hetty," Callen greeted, wincing as he sat up a little bit in his bed. The small ninja smiled at him.

"Don't sit up on my behalf Mr. Callen. You're very lucky, you and Mr. Deeks both are. A fall like that could kill a man, especially given Mr. Deeks' existing injuries."

"He'll be okay though, won't he?" Callen asked. Hetty smiled.

"Yes, he is expected to make a full recovery, given time and rest, which is something you need as well, Mr. Callen. I am sure that the world will not end if you allow yourself to rest for a few more days. I will arrange for you to, once you've recovered enough, go and visit Mr. Deeks."

Callen nodded, already feeling himself drifting off. The last thing he saw before falling asleep was Hetty watching over him protectively, Sam at her side.

Once they were sure that Callen was asleep Sam sighed and rubbed his hand over his face wearily. Despite the doctors suggesting that they had some sleep, none of them had complied, all too worried about Callen and Deeks…especially Deeks. Hetty had forced Eric to go back to Ops, since someone needed to be there to co-ordinate with LAPD, who had the dirty cop Sam had captured under surveillance in a different part of the hospital, ready to be sent to a remand centre before his trial, along with the other dirty cops that had not been at the factory.

"When are you going to offer Deeks that position as a NCIS agent, Hetty? You always said you were going to, but then nothing happened. This isn't the first time Deeks has almost been killed on a LAPD op, and his back up hasn't worked. He's going to end up being killed, and who knows what that's going to do to G. We need to get Deeks out of LAPD and into NCIS as a proper agent."

Mr. Hanna I offered Mr. Deeks the position month's age. The offer is still on the table. He said at the time that it would have felt like he was betraying LAPD, and organisation he is highly loyal to. The ball is in Mr. Deeks' court, but I do agree with your sentiments. He may be loyal to LAPD, but LAPD is not very loyal to him. I much prefer him to be working with us where his team watch his back."

Sam nodded in agreement, although he was surprised that Deeks hadn't already accepted the offer of becoming an agent. Although he accepted Hetty's suggestion, he wondered if Deeks wasn't comfortable with his place within NCIS. At LAPD Deeks was confident in his position, although he had few friends and was not well liked by those higher up in the organisation. At NICS he was still quite knew, and although he acted like an Agent most of the time, it was still a different job, which Deeks wasn't familiar with. Maybe that was the reason of Deeks' hesitation.

Either way, Sam knew that Deeks needed to sign the form, for the sake of the team. All he needed was a little encouragement.

NCIS: LA

Deeks groaned in pain as he woke up, his brain slowly beginning to function once again. He remembered being taken by the dirty cops to the factory, and being tied up. Then he'd been beaten. He reckoned that these guys must have taken lessons from his dad, because they knew where it hurt. Of course, logically, that wasn't possible, but still, by the time they'd finished kicking and punching him Deeks had been in a significant amount of pain.

At one point he'd taken a hit to the head, and he'd passed out. When he'd woken up he'd been thirty and hungry, but as did so many kidnappers, they refused to allow that. Deeks was unchained once every few hours so he could stagger to the bathroom and do his thing, before he went back to being tied up. As time had passed Deeks had felt his body giving out as the beatings continued. Then he'd heard the yelling voices of his tam, and the gunshots. Callen had come up to him, and shot Simon Grange, but then he'd walked onto the floor near Deeks, and Deeks remembered the cracking as the floor, unable to support all three men, collapsed beneath them. Then there was darkness. He was still in pain though, so he obviously wasn't dead, and the persistent beeping he could hear sounded very much like a heart monitor. Obviously he was in hospital.

He opened his eyes, and turned his head slightly, smiling when he saw Kensi sound asleep in the chair beside his bed, snoring quietly. He opened his moth to say something in order to wake her, but Hetty's voice stopped him.

"Don't even think about it, Mr. Deeks."

"Nice to see you too Hetty," Deeks smiled, quietening his voice. Kensi slept on.

"It I good to see you awake too, Mr. Deeks, but Ms. Blye is in need of her rest. Sleep has not been a plentiful commodity for your team these last few days."

"How long has it been?" Deeks asked.

"Four days since you were found and rescued, Mr. Deeks."

"Where are the others?" Deeks asked.

"Mr. Hanna is sleeping in Mr. Callen's room, or rather; he was an hour ago when I last checked on him. Ms. Jones and Mr. Beale are currently at home, and will arrive early in the morning to relieve Mr. Hanna and myself.

"How's G going?"

"He, like you is expected to make a full recovery. He woke up a couple of days ago, and has been most anxious to see you conscious once again."

"At least he's ok," Deeks said, relaxing a little, "when does he get out."

"Barring any complications I've been told by the end of the week. You, on the other hand, Mr. Deeks, have a much longer stay in store."

"Aww, Hetty, can't you bust me out with Callen. I promise I'll be good." Deeks wined. Hetty shook her head.

"No way, Mr. Deeks, and when you do get released you will certainly not be returning to your own apartment until myself and the rest of the team is convinced that you can look after yourself appropriately."

"But…where will I go?"

"Either my own home, or Ms. Blye has offered that you can stay with her. Mr. Callen wanted to, but as he is also injured and his home lack's certain essentials…such as a bed, he decided it would be better if you stayed elsewhere."

Deeks snorted, but winced as his ribs screamed in pain, "hang on, I've been gone for ages…Where's Monty. Is someone looking after him?"

"Mr. Hanna took Monty home the night after Mr. Callen woke up. Your neighbour was looking after him before that, and I do believe our honorary canine Special Agent is being rather spoiled rotten by Mr. Hanna's family."

Deeks grinned, "I hope he's happy. I miss him."

"I'm sure he will be happy to see you again. A special bond exists between a man and his dog. It is true, what they say."

"Dog is man's best friend?" Deeks asked. Hetty nodded.

"Deeks?" Kensi said as she woke up.

"Hey Fern," Deeks greeted. Kensi beamed and reached out, holding his hand.

"Don't do that again, I hate it when you get hurt…when you go missing and we don't know what on earth you're doing."

'It comes with the job, Kens," Deeks replied.

He missed the look on Kensi's face and the muttered, "Well, maybe you should get a different job," that accompanied it, but Hetty heard it and smiled to herself, leaving her two youngest team members to catch up, and instead heading to Callen's room. Now that Deeks was conscious it was probable that the two brothers would be moved to the same room, to make everything easier, but it hadn't been possible before now, due to Deeks' serious condition.

She walked into the room, and was not surprised to notice that Sam had re awoken, and that Callen was awake too.

"Hey Hetty" Sam greeted, before putting a card down on the stack on Callen's table. Obviously Sam had brought them in to occupy Callen. Callen put a card on top of Sam's quietly.

"I'm sure that you will both be pleased to know that Mr. Deeks has woken up," Hetty told them both. Callen looked up eagerly.

"Really?" he asked.

"Mr. Callen, would I joke about something like this?" Hetty asked.

Callen shook his head and immediately moved to get out of bed, only stopped when Sam reached out and grabbed his arm.

"No way, G."

"I agree with your partner, Mr. Callen. You are I no condition to go and visit Mr. Deeks."

"But he's my brother," G whined as Sam manhandled him back into bed.

"And he still will be once you've had more time to recover," Sam argued.

'"How is he?" G asked. Hetty smiled reassuringly.

"He's quite well, all things considering. He asked after you both, and after Monty. I told him that he was being spoilt by Mr. Hanna's family, which he found quite amusing."

"If my girls start asking for a dog after this, I'm blaming Deeks," Sam scowled. G snorted, knowing how Sam actually secretly rather liked Monty. Even Hetty smiled at Sam's comment.

"Whatever you say, Sam," Callen teased.

"Oh, and what is that supposed to mean?" Sam asked.

"Nothing," Callen replied innocently.

"Hmm, yeah, right. When can Deeks and Callen get put in the same room, Hetty, so they can annoy each other., because seriously, I think I can see them being related, they're both annoying."

"Hey," Callen protested. It took all of Hetty's self control not to laugh at the banter between her two most experienced agents. Sometimes they were no better than Deeks and Kensi, and sometimes they were a lot worse. The only difference was that Callen and Sam's partnership lacked the unresolved sexual tension that Deeks and Kensi's had in spades.

Now if only she could get those two to accept their feelings for one another, and everything would be perfect.

NCIS: LA

Deeks lay in his hospital bed, propped up on pillows. He was alone, for the first time it seemed since he'd been on the undercover op with LAPD. It was funny how it felt so different when he did ops with NCIS and when he did them with LAPD. With NCIS he never felt alone…he knew that there was ALWAYS someone watching his back, a stark contrast with what he'd experienced with the LAPD. Before he'd got the liaison position Deeks had never minded it, since he'd never really belonged to a family, or a team. He was a loner, and didn't know what being partners, or belonging to a team meant or felt like until he'd seen the way the Sam, G and Kensi interacted with one another, and how they'd watched each others backs during ops.

Initially he'd never thought that he would belong to such a tight knit unit, but then, one by one, the rest of the team had accepted him into the team, and he'd realised how great it was. Even though the situations they went undercover in were still highly dangerous, Deeks had never felt so safe while he was undertaking them.

It was because of this that Deeks was thinking about the folder that he had hidden in his house, the one with his application form for NCIS, and his resignation form for LAPD in it. He knew that he wasn't very well liked at LAPD, he wasn't a very good liaison officer because of it, and he'd always felt ashamed of it, but the thing was, he was pretty sure that everyone at NCIS did like him, everyone at the mission anyway. He hadn't met anyone from the other field offices yet though.

He turned his head, looking at the empty bed beside his. Callen had gone to the bathroom, but Deeks couldn't help but smile at how nice it had been. Callen had been surprisingly Hetty ever since they'd been brought into he same room. Still, nothing beat the way that Callen had greeted him once they'd finally been reunited after their respective recoveries.

Callen had been in a wheelchair, being wheeled by Sam, and Deeks had just been waking p from a nap when Callen had been wheeled in. Their eyes had locked, and, once he was beside Deeks' bed Callen had reached out, bushing his hand against Deeks', before reaching up and carding his fingers through Deeks' hair.

'Hey," Deeks had said.

"Hey," Callen had replied, 'How do you feel?"

"Better than I would have if you hadn't saved my life like that. Thanks."

"Any time, just don't get in the habit of getting caught and almost killed. I'm too young to get grey hairs."

Deeks had snorted, "You sure about that?" he'd asked jokingly. Callen had tapped his arm gently in reprimand.

"I'm not that much older than you," Callen defended.

"What ever you say, big bro," Deeks had grinned

"We'll see whose laughing next time I spar with you, and since I'm so old I won't hold back." Callen teased, and grinned at the look of panic on Deeks' face.

"That won't be for a little while, Mr. Callen," Hetty had interjected. Deeks had shot a triumphant grin at Callen.

"Teacher's pet," Callen had whispered to Deeks.

"I heard that, Mr. Callen," Hetty had scowled as Deeks had laughed, until the pain in his ribs had forced him to stop.

Even though being with the NCIS team…Callen, Kensi, Sam, Hetty, Eric and Nell… felt like his family, Deeks knew he still had ties to LAPD. They'd been the ones who had saved he and his mother from his father, they'd been the ones who had declared his shooting of his father as self defence, which in hindsight it certainly was, and a LAPD officer had been the one to get Deeks off the street and encouraged him to pursue his dreams, first of becoming a lawyer, and then throwing the study of law away and becoming a deep undercover detective. Deeks wondered what Mike would say about his situation now. Mike had always been one to encourage listening to one's heart and one's gut, and not to what everyone else was saying.

Deeks closed his eyes and listened to himself. His head was screaming at him to stop, to do this at a later time, when he'd had more time to think about it, when he wasn't doped up on pain medication, and the recent trauma of being abandoned by LAPD wasn't nearly so fresh and painful, but Deeks ignored the urgings of his head, and instead delved deeper, down to his heart (which was prattling on about Kensi a little to much for their to be no thing between them if Deeks was honest with himself) and his gut. He opened himself up to what was being said to him, and he knew that he'd made a decision.

"Deeks, you okay?" Callen's voice interrupted his musing, and Deeks' eyes flew open, watching as Callen stared at him, worry written across his face.

"Yeah, I'm good. Everything's great." Deeks reassured his older brother.

NCIS: LA

Deeks sat in his chair happily on his first day back at the mission, having finally been allowed to return to work under strict conditions from Hetty, whom he had stayed with the last week until she'd decided that he was capable of looking after himself.

Beside his desk sat Monty, his tail wagging as he smiled happily up at Deeks, thrilled to be back with his master. Deeks wasn't sure what the best part of his day had been, walking through the door of the mission, seeing his team again, or his reunion with his beloved pooch.

A sharp whistle cut through the air, and the team looked up at Eric, who was smiling.

"Ahh, it's good to see all four of you look up at me again," Eric said happily, "anyway, Hetty wants you all up here now."

The all got up, and headed upstairs, Callen and Deeks walking side by side up the stairs, Monty at their heels, since he obviously wasn't going to leave Deeks' side.

"What's in the folder?' Callen asked. Deeks held the folder in hand and just smiled.

"You'll find out, big bro." Deeks told him as he reached the top of the stairs. Callen stopped, smiling and shaking his head at Deeks' stonewall, and at the title. Obviously the blonde detective had something up his sleeve. It wasn't the first time that Deeks had called him something along the lines of Big Bro, but every time Deeks did it it made Callen stop and apparently every time Deeks did it he got a rather silly grin on his face, according to Sam and Kesni. After a not so subtle nudge in the back from Sam, the senior field agent walked into the ops centre, where the entire team were gathered.

"Well, I must say it is good to see you all back. I trust we won't have any injuries for awhile, and yes, Mr. Callen, Mr. Deeks, I am looking at the two of you right now."

"Yes Hetty," they said sheepishly.

"Very good, right, well, I'm sure you all have a lot of paperwork to do."

"Hang on Hetty, before that, I just wanted to give you this." Deeks said, handing over his folder. She opened it, checking that he'd signed everywhere he needed.

"You're sure about this, Mr. Deeks?" she asked.

"I've been thinking about it ever since I woke up in the hospital. It's time I moved on with my life. Took the next step, and grew up, you know…" Deeks shrugged.

"You're resigning?" Kensi asked in shock.

Deeks smiled and shook his head, "Nope,"

"Very well then… Congratulations Special Agent Deeks," Hetty smiled as the jaws of the rest of the people in the room dropped at Deeks' new title.

"Not from here, anyway," Deeks elaborated. Kensi beamed and threw herself into his arms. They hugged tight, and for a little longer that was perhaps appropriate (although nobody commented.) Sam was the next to walk up and pull Deeks into a very manly embrace.

"New it was a matter of time. We're going to be able to watch you're back all the time now."

"And I'll watch yours," Deeks promised sincerely. Sam grinned and clapped Deeks on the back, before Callen walked up to his younger brother. Deeks held out his had, which Callen took and shook formally, before he pulled, tugging Deeks into an embrace.

"I'm so proud of you, Marty…Special Agent Deeks."

"Thanks, G" Deeks replied.

**A.N. Well, that's all folks …unless I get the urge to write a sequel or something. It started off life as a little one shot about Callen and Deeks (because there isn't enough of those stories out there) and it just grew…and grew…and grew until it was an obscenely long one shot that I thought I should probably be split over two chapters.**

**Please do tell me what you think, as I really value your input.**

**R.W.**


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